The one, the only… Gene Cross.

The 36-year-old Cross has received recognition as one of 10 assistant coaches “ready to take the next step” to become a head coach by CBSSportsline.com and also as a top 25 recruiter by Rivals.com.

Cross… has extensive recruiting ties in Chicago. That’s an area UT has had much recruiting success in recently, signing Chicago natives such as Florentino Valencia, Jerrah Young and Tyrone Kent.

Unfortunately, I’m not able to make the press conference, or I’d have some more for you after the meet-up. But I think I like the notion of hiring an up-and-comer instead of a down-and-outer. For a big, fluffy, snuggle piece from when he was hired at Notre Dame, mash this thing right here.

Wake me when the tournament is over.

I don’t know why I bother filling these things out every year. It’s always an exercise in futility. And what’s frustrating about it, is that I can always sniff out the “sure upset” that everyone’s always taking, but then my own upset never comes through. Last season, it was Old Dominion over Butler (the only reason I remember this is because I’ve got that particular sportscast on my demo tape). Everyone liked ODM, and it never happened.

This year, there’s two of those 5/12 matchups that everybody was drooling over.  One of them was Temple over Michigan State. That didn’t happen. To a lesser extent, the other one (yet to come tonight) is George Mason over Notre Dame. In both of the brackets I filled out, I didn’t bite on these upsets… so far, I’m 1 for 1. So where did things go horribly wrong?

I had Georgia in my 16. D’oh. (My reasoning? I thought they would be “the story” of the first two rounds. I could already see the big featurette on Outside the Lines.)

(And hey, how about those Golden Flashes!)

Congratulations to the Toledo Rockets who waited until the last game of the regular season to finally get that road victory. Up next: Bowling Green in the MAC Tourney. What’s amusing, is that if the MAC still used their old format of campus sites for the first round, the Rockets would be hosting the game, as they’re the 8 seed (UT 7-8, BG 7-9).

Of course, the Rockets don’t have a home right now, what with Savage Hall putting up the “excuse our dust” signs. Actually, that might have something to do with it… now that they’re without an arena, home is where their rump rests.  Mark it, championship, dude.

Poor Sussman. I think the news of Dan Dakich taking over the Indiana Hoosiers may have broke him.

(And by the vy, I’m so very pissed that I couldn’t find  that sound of Dakich cussing up a storm because Dan Cummins said he “begged for his job back”. That was classic.)